


Maybe It Isn't So Bad

by DestinyForestWarrior



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Erik is a Little Shit, Erik is taken in by Ramonda and T'Chaka, Everyone is happy here okay!, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Iron!Dad, Ned Is a Good Bro, Peter is a good Bro, T'Chaka doesn't die AU, T'Challa Is a Good Bro, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 03:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17780117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyForestWarrior/pseuds/DestinyForestWarrior
Summary: Peter hates Valentine's Day because he doesn't see the appeal of the day.Shuri hates Valentine's Day because she thinks she can't show her feeling to the one person who has managed to grab them.But, maybe...Both are wrong about their opinions of the day itself.





	Maybe It Isn't So Bad

**Author's Note:**

> So guess what i decided to whip up within a few hours because I was suddenly hit with the inspiration for it. Yep. This fic!
> 
> This was originally meant to be a drabble but I ended up enjoying writing Erik too much and it winded up being far longer than I previous wanted.
> 
> (Who knows I may delve into this AU a bit more - I have several ideas about this AU as a whole but it is definitely a work in progress.)

“So…Have you found something for her yet?”

Peter glanced at Ned as they sat listening to Cobbwell drone on about some kind of chemical reaction or another. He wasn’t really paying attention, he already read up on this information because he knew he’d be distracted.

“What?”

What was his best friend going on about?

Ned sighed and turned to face him more directly. “Have you found something for the Princess?”

“For what?”

Ned seemed to look as though he was wondering why Peter was so intelligent and yet so slow on the uptake. He rolled his eyes.

“For Valentine’s Day.”

Peter almost spluttered and turned to face Cobbwell so he looked as though he was actually paying attention.

“Valentine’s Day is a cheap cash grab. It’s useless.”

“Yeah? You never answered my question.” Ned huffed.

Peter gritted his teeth. “No. I’m not going to get a gift for the Princess. Why would I? I don’t like her.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I’m-“

“Parker! Leeds! Is your conversation more important?”

“No, sir.” The two responded at the same time, looking down at their notes that they should be writing but hadn’t been doing.

“Good. Pay attention.”

Cobbwell turned to the board and made a motion to further explain what exactly the diagram was showing.

Peter sighed and rested his chin on his palm as he stared blankly at what was in front of him. Slightly day dreaming about something that may or may not have included Shuri in it.

He saw a piece of paper land in front of him and he glanced down at it.

Quickly he unravelled the paper to see Ned’s messy scrawl upon it.

_You like her~_

Peter scowled and glared at Ned who didn’t look at him but smirked to himself ever so slightly.

He was not going to say whether he did or not.

That meant nothing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

“T’Challa is being insufferable.”

Ramonda merely hummed at her daughter’s declaration. T’Chaka and Erik turned to glance at the Princess who was sprawled out along the couch.

“How so?”

“Valentine’s Day is coming up and he is going crazy to find the perfect gift for Nakia.” Shuri stated loudly.

Erik snorted. “She deserves it for putting up with him. Perhaps he should take her to a lovely tropical island and leave her alone.”

Shuri burst out laughing while T’Chaka and Ramonda just shook their heads at Erik’s statements.

“Erik…” T’Chaka said, turning to face him. “Are you being serious right now?”

“Yes. Look, I’ll even tell T’Challa of that idea. He’ll give it a shot.” Erik sat up fully.

“She’d never come back.” Shuri chuckled.

Erik grinned. “Yeah, cause then she’ll realise that her life is better.”

Ramonda raised her eyebrows. “Why are you two so bitter about Valentine’s Day?”

“Because love is meaningless and leads to pain.” Erik declared as he jumped to his feet. “I have warned T’Challa and he has not heeded my warnings.”

“Isn’t that a bit, overdramatic?” T’Chaka asked, watching Erik closely as he began to pace. “Even for you.”

“It is the truth.”

Shuri muttered. “Why do you need one day to show your partner that you love them?”

“That is a fair point, and it isn’t. It’s a show of affection.” Ramonda explained to her daughter.

Erik let out a gleeful cry. “You are only upset because the guy you like doesn’t like Valentine’s Day!”

Shuri hissed and glared at Erik. “That is not it!”

“A guy?” T’Chaka and Ramonda looked confused as they stared at the two.

Erik smirked and Shuri hissed.

“Don’t you dare.”

“Don’t be such a sourpuss.” Erik’s smirk was obnoxious. “Don’t worry.” He looked at his aunt and uncle. “It’s Peter Parker.”

“Spider Man?”

“Yeah, he apparently hates Valentine’s Day and Shuri is bitter about it.” Erik nodded, ignoring the squawks of displeasure from his cousin.

T’Chaka chuckled. “Oh, thank Bast. We were worried it was another guy.”

“Dad!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Peter stared at Morgan who messed around with the crayons. Looking at each one as if to see which one had offended her personally. It was an amusing sight to see actually.

“Peter?” He heard Tony speak up as he stepped in the room. “May and Happy were looking for you.”

Peter shrugged. “I can’t stand the sight of Valentine’s Day. With anyone.” He grumbled. “I don’t want to go to school that day because everyone is just gonna piss me off.”

Tony sighed and sat down beside him and smiled at the picture Morgan handed to him of their family.

Of Tony, Pepper, Morgan, Peter, Happy, May, Rhodey and Carol. It was a cute picture. Carol was rarely around since she worked inter-galactic but still came back from time to time.

“Why do you hate Valentine’s Day?”

“Want it alphabetically or the order in which I realised it sucked?”

Tony gave him a look but Peter refused to look at him.

“Main reasons?”

“It’s a cheap cash grab for a day focused on showing love to people even though you should do that every day.” Peter grabbed a pencil and made a sketch of a cat robot that he was currently working on. “Seriously, it means nothing.”

“Well, it is a sweet day.” Tony said and smiled as Morgan climbed onto Peter’s back to look over his shoulder at what he was sketching.

“Kitty!” She pointed at it and grinned, laughing. “It’s kitty!”

“Yeah, it is a kitty.” Peter laughed. “I’m working on it.”

Tony shook his head. “I thought you don’t like cats?”

“Eh. They are so and so. It’s for Shuri.”

“Oh?” Tony raised an eyebrow.

“She bet that I couldn’t make one and so I decided to make one anyway.” Peter explained motioning towards the drawings. “I am working on refining what it contains. It’s almost done.”

“Will it be done for Valentine’s Day?” Tony sounded way to smug.

“No.”

“You hesitated.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.” Tony’s grin stretched across his face and Peter just huffed.

“I don’t want it to be completed by Valentine’s Day cause I don’t want people to think I like her.”

“But,” Tony frowned, suddenly picking up in Peter’s bitterness. “You do like her.”

Peter paused and just sighed heavily. Morgan sensed her older brother was upset and made a confused and concerned noise in her throat.

“And? I’m a nobody compared to her, she wouldn’t like me back.” Peter muttered, not wanting to continue the conversation.

Tony wanted to push the conversation but knew better than to cross those boundaries Peter put up. Peter will let him in when he is ready.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Shuri sighed as they left the Royal Jet to approach the Compound.

She didn’t want to be here.

It was Valentine’s Day and she was incredibly bitter about Erik and T’Challa forcing her in getting a gift for Peter.

It was a Spider robot that was essentially a call system, allowing a group call on Peter’s end with eight other people. The colours matched his suit but Shuri wasn’t even sure Peter would accept it.

He disliked receiving gifts that could be mistaken as poking fun at his lack of proper materials or materials that others had access to that he didn’t.

It was an extremely risky decision so Shuri selected a Kimoyo bead bracelet which will allow them to talk at any time. That was certainly a safer choice just in case the other gift was rejected which was incredibly likely.

“Don’t be so worried.” T’Challa spoke, nudging his baby sister. “He’ll accept the gifts.”

“No he won’t. This was a mistake.” Shuri shook her head.

Erik huffed. “Stop worrying. You are here you might as well go through with it.”

“Our relationship is gonna be ruined!” Shuri almost wailed and was aware of her parents, brother, cousin, Nakia and Okoye rolling their eyes at her dramatics. Hey, they should be used to it by now.

“You are overreacting.” Erik stated. “And I know a lot about overreacting.”

T’Challa grumbled. “Your middle name is ‘dramatic’.”

“At least you acknowledge it, cousin dearest.”

“It’s hard to ignore since you like to state it every time you can.”

“To make sure you are aware of my importance.”

“Importance?”

“I will skin you, kitty cat.”

“You must be feline insecure.”

Erik almost pretty much hissed at T’Challa but T’Chaka stopped the two of them from trying to claw each other’s faces off. Shuri was slightly disappointed that they wouldn’t see the ridiculous and silly side of her brother.

“Your Pantherinesses.” Stark walked up to them with a smile upon his face and despite the slight insulting nickname it was meant genuinely. “Welcome, welcome.”

They followed him into his home even though they knew their way around.

Shuri looked around, trying to see if she could stop Peter and her shoulders slumped when she realised that he was nowhere to be seen.

Erik chuckled from beside her. “Don’t look too disappointed.”

“Shut up.”

“Just saying.”

Nakia looked at Erik and scowled. “Erik, leave her alone. You can’t blame her for her crush.”

“Yes, a crush that I should question.” Okoye hissed, while liking Peter she didn’t really like the idea that Peter hated the very day that Shuri absolutely loved. It would lead to conflicts.

“He’s cute okay.” Shuri hated this conversation, she thought it had been left on the jet but of course it had to start back up.”

“You should find Peter in one of the labs. Friday will escort you there.” Tony said loudly, catching their attention.

Shuri stumbled and paused. “I…I…” She fell silent and felt the gift weight heavy in her pockets.

“Go on.” T’Challa nudged her with his hand on her upper back. “You should talk with him.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

The loud music blasted from the speakers as Peter looked over the cat AI.

It had been hectic to make and ensure it was finished by today, since the Wakandan Royal family were coming and he did want to give it to Shuri. Or if she didn’t want it, a display that he could do exactly what Shuri wanted him to do with some alterations to the design.

He leaned back and smirked at the AI, turning it on and it caused the cat to shake its body out.

The music lowered and Peter looked up and was about to ask Friday what was going on when she spoke up.

“Princess Shuri wants to know if she can come in.”

“Let her in.” Peter said as he turned to cleaning the tabletop as the cat watched his hand before crouching and leaped at his hand. Peter just stared at the robot. “Seriously?”

“That is cute.”

Peter looked over to see Shuri standing on the other end of the lab to him, the door closing behind her. He shrugged and turned back to the robot.

“Well, it works. You said you weren’t sure if I could do this and I did.”

Shuri’s face was blank as she approached him. “Really?”

“Yeah. I made alterations to that previous design but it works. The eyes glow in the dark when it is on and will react to noises that aren’t normal with a hissing noise.”

She sat down in the other chair and held her hand out to the cat robot who batted at her fingers. It tilted its head and seemed emotional but that was most likely because Peter’s mind was getting all muddled by watching it so closely for the last three weeks.

“It’s cute.” Shuri smiled, and Peter looked away so she couldn’t see his blushed cheeks.

Damn, his crush was getting really difficult to hide. He wasn’t going to do anything because nothing would happen.

“It’s yours if you want it.” Peter stated. “I don’t know when the next time we’ll next meet so I decided to have it finished by today.”

Shuri was silent and her body was frozen in shock. He felt her eyes on him and glanced at her out of the corner of his own.

Her expression was one of shock and something that made Peter’s heart flip. Was that something akin to an interest and happiness at being given something from him on Valentine’s Day? He doubted it because that was too unlikely for her to like him back.

_Don’t get your hopes up, Parker._

“Can I?” Shuri’s voice dropped.

“Of course, I have no need for it. You can give them a voice and name if you want. Personally, a silent robot that acts like a cat and can be an alert system seems like a better option.” Peter shrugged as he filed away the designs into a safe location.

Shuri nodded. “That’s fair.” She shifted and Peter knew she was keeping something from him.

“Princess?”

“I feel bad. I wanted to give you a gift as well but I…I don’t know if you’ll accept it.” Shuri said as she ran her fingers down the robot’s back and her other hand went into her pocket to find something in it. “It…it’s a Spider phone to a degree.”

Her placed the small spider on the desk. “Like you can have eight people talking at the same time but it sounds stupid overall.”

Peter picked up the spider and spotted the red, blue and black colours that adorned it. It was cute. “It may not be practical but I can see a way to use it that I can use it to start a large group call with friends and family without worry about our connection getting cut.”

Shuri had been tense as she watched his study the gift but she relaxed then perked up.

“That isn’t all. That was actually the shitty gift that I should remake because it is terrible.” Shuri admitted quietly.

“It’s not terrible. It can be easily hidden.” Peter smiled. It was cute. “Plus, it would be helpful to making pranks easier.”

That made Shuri laugh alongside him. Of course it would.

“Well.” Shuri held out a Kimoyo Bead bracelet. “This is our Kimoyo Bead bracelet for conversations being able to happen over long distances.”

Peter held out his wrist and let Shuri put it on him.

“It is different in colour to ours as mine has more functions.” Shuri explained. “But, yours is mainly for communication to Wakanda without any interference.”

Peter shook his wrist and listened to the beads clicking together. He smiled.

“Thanks, princess.” Peter smiled genuinely at the gift. “Seriously, I love it.”

Shuri nodded and turned to the cat and pursed her lips together.

Damn, they looked… _No! Get your mind out of the gutter!_ Peter placed the spider on the shelf above his head, wanting to keep it out of the way in case something happened to it.

“Thanks, Spidey.” Shuri smiled but didn’t look at him.

Peter shrugged. “It was nothing.”

Seriously, it wasn’t. As just because he made it for her and his absolute crush on her, that his friends and family would claim was more than a simple crush. If she took it as a normal gift when actually it wasn’t then he was going to accept that.

Yet, before he could think Shuri leaned towards him and suddenly he felt lips press against his own.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

Shuri wondered what had compelled her to kiss him.

Did she want to ruin their friendship because of her own emotions?

No, but she acted out on them.

Shit.

What if this screws it up?

Can she act as though she was trying to kiss him on the cheek and missed?

Would he believe that?

Except, Shuri felt a hand grab her wrist and Peter’s lips press against hers.

Oh. Well. Seems like her feelings were in fact returned, and Shuri leaned in closer and let Peter’s hand guide hers to rest it on the desk in a more comfortable position. Her other hand rested on his knee.

She heard a humming noise and pulled back slightly.

Her eyes fluttered open – when did they close exactly? – and saw Peter open his own. Their eyes met and his lips twitched.

“We aren’t making our relationship anniversary on Valentine’s Day.” Peter mumbled.

“Why not?” Shuri asked, tone challenging him and his idea.

“Because. I haven’t asked you out properly nor taken you on any date.” Peter shrugged. “And we already kissed…”

“So you want to do it properly?” Shuri teased seeing where he was coming from.

“We already kissed, Princess. We didn’t do anything properly here.” He teased back.

“Fine then.” Shuri sat back. “We’ll arrange for me to come by one weekend and you can take me somewhere nice.”

Peter opened his mouth to argue but Shuri quickly placed her finger on his lips to keep him quiet.

“You can ask me out then. Deal?”

“Deal. But no kissing.” Peter folded his arms.

“But…”

“I said I want to do it properly.”

“Fine. Deal.”

Peter just grinned and Shuri muttered under her breath.

“You’re lucky I like you.”

Peter laughed as stood up and pulled her up from her seat. “Come on. Lunch is probably ready and Pepper makes some amazing food, I’m also hungry.”

“You are always hungry.”

“Not always.”

Shuri playfully punched his shoulder. “Whatever, nerd.”

Peter smiled and looked at the Kimoyo Beads before glancing at her.

“Ya know something.”

“What?”

“Maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t so bad after all.”


End file.
